Utility Week

16 | JANUARY 2023 | UTILITY WEEK Renewables Analysis New lease of life for onshore wind A backbench rebellion by Conservative MPs forced the government to relax the de facto ban on onshore wind development, but will that be enough to encourage large-scale investors? E nthusiasm for the free market is meant to have been the Conservative Party's core guiding principle since Marga- ret Thatcher's heyday as prime minister. However, in respect to onshore renewables, the Tories have been deaf to free market arguments. For years, onshore solar and wind have been the cheapest way to generate electric- ity as well as being a lot quicker to develop than offshore projects. Since 2016, though, successive Conservative prime ministers have maintained a de facto ban in England on onshore wind farms, making it more dif- ficult to secure planning permission for this type of development than any other. And Tory MPs, led by erstwhile prime minister Liz Truss, have also railed against the use of farmland for solar developments. New prime minister Rushi Sunak has maintained this hostile stance to onshore wind, but the first week of December saw movement on this front, where the govern- ment's stance has looked increasingly out of touch with broader concerns about the UK's energy security. Following a backbench rebellion, which attracted the support of Truss and her pre- decessor Boris Johnson, the government unveiled moves that could trigger a relaxa- tion of the planning restrictions on onshore wind farms in England. The Department for Levelling Up, Hous- ing and Communities announced a commit- ment to launch a consultation on changes to national onshore wind planning policy. The government said it would consult on changes before Christmas to the National Planning Policy Framework about how coun- cils make decisions about onshore wind schemes. The consultation will also address consents for grid connections to onshore wind and encourage the upgrading of exist- ing wind farm sites. However, onshore wind will not be restored to the Nationally Significant Infra- structure Project regime, which dealt with all applications for 50MW-plus developments pre-2016. Despite this caveat, the government's change of attitude was an early festive treat for the industry. "Even just creating a level playing field and ensuring that communities that want it to go ahead can have it is a really, really posi- tive step," says Adam Berman, deputy direc- tor of Energy UK. James Robottom, head of onshore wind at trade body RenewableUK, agrees. "Politi- cally and symbolically it's extraordinarily important," he says. Zoisa North-Bond, chief executive of Octopus Energy Generation, says: "Now is the time to work closely with local authori- ties and supportive local communities to identify suitable locations for new wind energy, helping the country to wean itself off expensive gas imports and strengthen its energy security." Describing the government's move as "urgent and overdue", Ecotricity founder Dale Vince says: "Taking the breaks off this type of renewable energy will kick start a sector of British industry which is ready to build turbines, efficiently without the need of government subsidies." The consultation on the changes to the NPPF had not been published when this arti- cle went to press, meaning key details about the operation of the local planning regime for onshore wind had not been fleshed out. But given the political pressure, the gov- ernment is unlikely to row back now, says Jess Ralston, head of energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. "It's going to be a bit embarrassing if they then introduce a system that's so cum- bersome they don't get any onshore wind. If you're going to change your mind, then you may as well U-turn all the way and actually make it easy." Unless uncertainties surrounding local planning are resolved, onshore wind may remain a relatively niche activity, says Robot- tom: "The real hope is that this will allow some of the smaller projects to get through so UK businesses and communities who are really up for this are able to take control of their energy needs, which is a stepping stone in the right direction. "The challenge will be commercial wind and whether there's enough certainty for investors in the supply chain to make moves into that space." Given the lead-in times for securing planning permission and grid connections, onshore wind farms brought forward follow- ing the government's announcement prob- ably won't be delivered until the early 2030s, points out Berman. Scotland and Wales, where significantly more land is available and wind speeds are o¢en higher, are likely to remain more effi- cient locations for siting onshore turbines, he says: "We need all the tools in the toolbox to be able to bolster our energy security and put us on the pathway to net zero. This is a really important extra tool in that box but we need to be realistic that this is not going to be a silver bullet." This equation could alter if the govern- ment pushes ahead with plans to intro- duce more localised electricity pricing, says Marlon Dey, GB head of research for consul- tancy Aurora. Retaining current national pricing would result in a "modest increase" in onshore wind output in England, he says. However, splitting the grid into localised pricing nodes could start to deter onshore wind being built in Scotland, which would make English pro- continued overleaf

• Cover